Show Notes
In today’s episode, learn the fastest way to remove old wallpaper, find out if natural stone countertops are worth the upkeep, and discover five easy home improvement hacks you can complete in 30 minutes or less. Plus, we’ll help turn your dream project into a reality, with answers to more home improvement questions!
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
- Stone Countertops: Natural stone countertops require ongoing maintenance, but are they worth the hassle?
- Wallpaper Removal: Removing wallpaper is always a challenge, but these tips can make it easier and faster.
- Quick Home Improvement: You can get these home improvement tasks done in 30 minutes or less.
Top Questions & Answers
- Tile Grout: Is it a bad idea to use white grout with white bathroom tile? It’s a fine choice, but Christine should use silicone grout that’s easy to clean or properly seal sand grout.
- Roofing: Joe’s roof shingles don’t extend far enough over the gutters. There should be a drip edge and we have tips for extending the shingles and installing flashing.
- Siding Gap: Jennifer wants to seal a gap between the wood siding and brick to keep out pests. Options include steel wool or foam insulation that must be primed and painted.
- Window Wells: The metal window wells near the driveway are getting rusted. James gets advice on replacing them with plastic wells that won’t corrode from weather and salt.
- Driveway Stains: How can Richard remove oil and rust stains from his new driveway? He should mix TSP into a paste and let it sit before scrubbing the surface.
- Shower Leak: Maria’s shower is leaking into the subfloor. We have tips for finding and sealing a leak in the shower pan or the grout around it.
Ask Your Home Improvement Question
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
00:00:31 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles, this is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
00:00:38 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
00:00:40 | TOM: If you have a project in mind you’d like to get done, because we would love to help. If you’ve got a DIY dilemma, if you are thinking about a decor project, maybe you don’t know where to start, or maybe you did start and it went all wrong. Whatever improvements are going on in your home, we would love to help you take that next step. So give us a call right now with those questions at 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. Outside, inside, it doesn’t matter. This is what we do, and we’d love to help. Hey, coming up on today’s episode, if getting rid of old wallpaper is standing between you and your dream room, well, we can help with that too, because with the right steps, removing wallpaper can be quicker and easier. And I point out that we didn’t say quick and easy on purpose. But we can help. We can make it a little bit quicker and a little bit easier. So we’ll share those tips just ahead. |
00:01:23 | LESLIE: Or you just keep it. Wallpaper is awesome. |
00:01:25 | TOM: That’s right. You’ll learn to love it. |
00:01:27 | LESLIE: And if you love the beauty and durability of natural stone countertops, you might not know that those stone tops require maybe a ton of maintenance to keep them looking good. I mean, really, if you want them to look like the day they were installed. So we’re going to sort out whether these attractive kitchen surfaces are worth the hassle. |
00:01:45 | TOM: And you want to tackle a home improvement project, but you don’t have money, you don’t have much time. We’re going to share five fast hacks that take 30 minutes or less to complete. So what we’re saying here is no more excuses. If you’ve got 30 minutes, we can help you get the job done. |
00:01:57 | LESLIE: Yeah, but I can tell you, taking off wallpaper is not in that 30-minute project list. It’s not. All right, guys, but first, are you dreaming about a project that you would love to tackle this year? Well, if you can dream it, you can do it, and we can help. So let us know what projects you’ve got on your to-do list. Maybe you’ve already started something, and this is going to be the time that you finish it, or perhaps you’re just going to finally dive into that huge project. Whatever it is, we are here to lend a hand. |
00:02:24 | TOM: Reach out right now at 1-888-Money-Pit. That’s 888-666-3974. Or better yet, just go to moneypit.com slash ask and click the blue microphone button. Let’s get to it. Leslie, who’s first? |
00:02:37 | LESLIE: We’ve got Christine on the line who’s got a question about grout. What is going on at your money pit? |
00:02:42 | CALLER: So I have a renovation going on. And one bathroom has white shower tile and white floor tile. And I wanted to use white grout on both the shower wall and the floor. My architect says don’t use white. It’ll get so dirty so fast. My boss says she has two rooms, and they’re both all white grout, and they don’t get dirty. And then there was somebody else who said, you know, there’s opinions on both sides. I want to know what is the right answer. Okay. |
00:03:11 | TOM: Well, Leslie, I think it really comes down to the type of grout. I mean, if it’s sand grout, it’s much more likely to get dirty than if it’s an epoxy grout, right? Yeah. |
00:03:18 | LESLIE: And it also depends, you know, if you treat it after the grout is applied. You know, there are some steps you can take to make sure that once the grout is applied, it can stay cleaner longer. And there’s different ways that you can apply that grout sealer as well. Okay. Are you taking notes? |
00:03:34 | Yeah. |
00:03:34 | TOM: I am. So we think that white’s probably a fine choice. And, yes, there may be a bit more maintenance. But if you do seal, if it’s sand grout, like the whiter grout, joints like for the floor, and you seal those properly, you minimize that. And for the tile walls, if you use an epoxy grout, then you really have no worries because that’s just almost as easy to clean as the tile itself. |
00:03:53 | LESLIE: Oh, okay. Thank you so much. Now we’ve got Joe in Michigan who’s dealing with a gutter issue. Tell us what’s going on. |
00:04:01 | CALLER: Hey, this roof I need some help with. I bought the house about eight years ago. It’s got a good roof on it, but it appears that they tried to save some money and have somebody do it. And what the problem is is the shingles don’t come out far enough from the top of the roof to get into the gutters. And there’s a metal strip that goes along right at the bottom edge of the roof. And from what I see, it almost looks as though it’s turned around backwards, as though if it was put in properly, it would extend out further to help get the water towards the gutters or into the gutters. Okay. So the mess I’ve got now is I’ve got all this water that’s hitting some spots in the gutter properly and others not. And I’ve tried to push the gutters and tap the gutters back up as far against the fascia as I can, and I’m still getting water through there. It’s frustrating. |
00:04:53 | CALLER: Well, the metal strip is throwing me a little bit. Now, typically, at the edge of the fascia, you’d have something called a drip edge, which |
00:04:59 | TOM: is sort of like a right-angle piece of trim that goes over the front of the fascia and |
00:05:04 | CALLER: up under the roof. And it’s at a 90-degree angle. Is that kind of what you’re seeing or not? |
00:05:09 | CALLER: I had them install some aluminum over the roof. I had them install some aluminum over the fascia board, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about. It is a channel of sorts, but it’s right on the top lip of the roof, if I’m explaining this right. You know where they first start putting the shingles on and then they start moving up forward? It’s like right at that edge, there’s metal. |
00:05:31 | CALLER: Are the shingles resting on top of the metal? Yes. |
00:05:33 | TOM: Regardless, the solution here is the same. What you need to do is to extend those roof shingles into the gutter. So, because there’s not a magic potion that will do that, the way to fix this is to get a flat bar, and that’s a very thin pry bar. And you’re lifting up the edges of those shingles at the bottom of the roof edge, and you’re going to slip underneath some flashing. And the flashing that you would use is probably just aluminum roll flashing, maybe six-inch or eight-inch wide flashing. And the easiest way to do this is in small pieces because it becomes too hard to handle when you have a long piece. And you run the flashing up under the roof shingles, and you make sure it extends past the roof shingles and lays into the top of the gutters. So, essentially, what you’re doing is creating a bridge to make up the distance between where the shingle ended and where it really should have ended, which is at the edge of the gutter. |
00:06:25 | CALLER: And this way, when the water comes down the roof, it will drop from the shingle to the flashing to the gutter. Does that make sense? |
00:06:32 | CALLER: Absolutely. And that sounds like something I can do. So, I appreciate you, and we’ll give that a shot. |
00:06:40 | LESLIE: Hey, you want to support our podcast and help us grow? Well, go ahead and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we’ll be forever grateful. Plus, you’ll be helping other homeowners discover our show. Just go to MoneyPit.com slash review. What do you guys have going on in the new year? You know, all of this time, this time of year, people start traveling and going away. Well, did you know that a burglar enters a home every 30 seconds? I mean, that is a lot, every 30 seconds. That’s why we’re excited to partner with Vivint Home Security. MoneyPit listeners can get their award-winning, smarter, simpler home security system right now, and it starts at just a dollar a day. |
00:07:19 | TOM: And check this out. All of our listeners will also get free professional installation with a signed agreement. Restrictions apply, but don’t wait. You must call now. The number is 1-800-586-9606. That’s 1-800-586-9606. 1-800-586-9606. |
00:07:40 | LESLIE: Heading over to Maryland, we’ve got Jennifer on the line. What is happening at your money pit? |
00:07:45 | CALLER: I have a house. I live in the city. Probably one built in the 1950s. And the question that I have is that the plywood that is near the roof, I’m sorry, the plywood that is near the brick, it has a gap. My question to you is, can you fill that gap with foamatic installation? |
00:08:07 | TOM: When you say the plywood that’s near the roof, are you talking about? Like the soffit? The overhang? |
00:08:11 | CALLER: No. Okay. You know what? Not the soffit. I’m sorry. The plywood. It’s like the siding. The siding. It’s a flat roof house. Okay? And then we have siding. And siding that actually is there. You know, it probably looked like it had some type of roofing caulk or something there to close up those gaps. Right. Can you use foam? Because, you know, you just don’t want birds or something to slip in there and then they can get behind your walls. |
00:08:33 | TOM: Right. So what’s throwing me is that generally you don’t have plywood siding in a 1950s house. Generally you have clapboard or another type of wood siding. Yeah. |
00:08:43 | CALLER: It is a wood siding. Yes. It is some type of wood siding. |
00:08:46 | TOM: So basically we’re talking about how we fill a gap in wood siding and you want to do this in a way that you don’t have any rodents or birds or whatever can get in and out of that space. Probably the best thing to do is to fill it with steel wool because that will stop anything else from going into it. Now, is this under the soffit? Or is it going to be fully exposed to the sun? Or is it going to be exposed to the weather? Because then we have to talk about how to kind of like, you know, make sure it’s somewhat watertight too. |
00:09:07 | CALLER: Well, we have a rubber roof on the house. The house has a rubber roof on it. Right. It’s just at the siding and it’s a plain house. The plain house is flat and you have the, you know, I guess it’s some type of wood. Right. And we just want to make sure it looked like before because it looked like it was white. Right. So it looked like it was either some type of roofing caulk or some type of foam that was there to fill it. |
00:09:28 | TOM: How big is this gap? Like, we’re talking about like quarter inch or an inch? |
00:09:31 | CALLER: Probably a quarter inch to a half an inch. |
00:09:34 | TOM: Oh, that’s really tiny. Yeah. You could just caulk that. You may have to put it in like two layers, but you could caulk that. That shouldn’t be a big deal. And, you know, you want to caulk it and then you could paint right over it. |
00:09:43 | CALLER: Can you use foam attic also? |
00:09:45 | TOM: What does that mean to you? What is foam attic? You mean spray foam insulation? Yeah. |
00:09:48 | CALLER: The spray foam insulation. |
00:09:49 | TOM: You mean the kind that’s in a can? Yeah. All right. So you’re talking about great stuff and that’s an expandable polyurethane insulation. Could you use that? Well, yes, but, all right. So you could use that and you would let it expand and then you’d let it harden and then after it’s hardened, then you can go back with like Utility Night and cut it flush with the siding. But at that point, you would have to prime it and paint it because you can’t leave it exposed to the weather because the sun will basically deteriorate that foam really quickly. It’s not designed to be, you know, weatherproof. So you could use it, but you would have to also prime it and paint it to protect it. |
00:10:26 | CALLER: So you can use it and maybe you can taper, once you cut it, you could taper it off with some type of roofing caulk like you were mentioning and that would be almost like a double ceiling. |
00:10:35 | TOM: If there’s a big gap behind it, yeah, you just want to use it to fill the space. Use it gently, okay? You’re better off with a couple of smaller applications of that stuff because I’ll tell you something about great stuff. If you just shoot a bunch of stuff into a hole like that, it expands and I’ve seen it, you know, push siding boards. It’s not going to be able to get the walls off the house or like swell the side framing of a window where the window won’t open or close anymore. So use it carefully, all right? |
00:10:57 | CALLER: Thank you all very much for answering my question. I enjoy your show as always. It’s always a learning experience for all those DIY folks out there. |
00:11:04 | TOM: Thank you very much, Jennifer. Happy to help you out. Good luck. |
00:11:08 | LESLIE: Well, if getting rid of old wallpaper stands between you and your dream room, we can help. With the right steps, removing wallpaper can be quicker and easier. So we’re going to show you how. Now, you’re going to notice I didn’t say quick and easy, but I did say quicker and easier because it’s kind of a hard, time-consuming project. I mean, it just takes a while and it’s a lot of work because nothing about removing that wallpaper is quick or easy because it’s made to stick. So we’re going to help you out and save some of those steps. |
00:11:40 | TOM: Yeah. So what is the best way to get rid of that stuff? So first off, you have to score it. You want to use a utility knife or a wallpaper scorer tool to create small, easy-to-use, small holes in the paper. And the reason you’re doing this is because that’s going to allow steam or a wallpaper removal solution to penetrate through to the adhesive base. Now, renting a steamer is worth the cost and the hassle. It will definitely speed up your project. With a steamer, you work from the top down, you steam, and you remove one section of wallpaper at a time. Yeah. |
00:12:11 | LESLIE: Now, another helpful hint is to add a solution because if that wallpaper is resisting removal, you want to mix hot water and fabric softener, believe it or not. And that’s what we’re going to do. And you want to do this mix one-to-one. Then you pour that solution into a spray bottle and you apply it to those tough-to-remove spots. You’ve got to work quickly, though, because that solution is only effective for a short amount of time, like 15 minutes. So you want to stay in an area that you can tackle in that timeframe or less. |
00:12:36 | TOM: Now once that wallpaper is removed, you need to prep and clean the wall for paints. You want to use a mixture of distilled white vinegar and water to remove any remaining glue. Then wait till the surface is completely dry. Then apply a primer and then paint, or go ahead and apply a new layer of wallpaper, if you dare. |
00:12:57 | LESLIE: And if all of this just seems like too much work, you’re thinking, can I just paint your wallpaper over what’s already there? I mean, you can. It never looks right. And the problem with putting it on top of what’s already there is that when you are ready to remove it, it’s just going to be that much harder. So just do it. James in Colorado is on the line and has a question about a rusty window well. James in Colorado is on the line and has a question about a rusty window well. What’s going on? |
00:13:20 | CALLER: So our home is about fourteen years old and we have some window wells that butt up right against to the driveway. And they’ve started having little quarter-size or half-dollar-sized rust pits that are coming through onto the inside of the window well and I’m doing some things that mask that. But I just wonder in the long-term, can I stop that from happening or what’s going to be the long-term consequence of that? Yeah. |
00:13:47 | TOM: Probably not. |
00:13:59 | TOM: And that’s corrosive as well. So I think this is just a state of wear that these window wells are experiencing. They do make window wells that are not steel. There’s very sturdy plastic window wells that are available. Are these between sort of like the foundation wall in your driveway and are they, you know, covering maybe half the way up the glass for the basement or can you describe them to me? |
00:14:26 | CALLER: It covers up almost the whole way of the glass. We’re in a newer neighborhood but it’s designed to look like an older one with detached garages and the space between the houses is narrow. So the driveway actually comes right up to the foundation and so these window wells stick up about half a foot to a foot above the driveway. |
00:14:45 | TOM: James, are you familiar with the Bilco Company? They’re kind of famous for the Bilco door which is that sort of slanty metal door that helps people get into basements from the outside. They actually make a polyethylene wall. It’s a window well that would replace the steel window well. Of course, you know, they’re like a hundred bucks compared to like, you know, twenty bucks for the steel one. But those window wells are very attractive and sturdy and you’re not going to have any problems with corrosion in the future with them. So there’s an option for you. Perhaps if they get any worse and you get to the point where they’re not looking that great and you want to replace them, you might want to think about doing that. |
00:15:20 | CALLER: Okay. Is it a pretty big deal to replace them? |
00:15:23 | TOM: Not really. You’re going to have to just dig out the old one. Okay. And what I would do is I would lay down a tarp so that you’re collecting the soil on top of the tarp and not getting it all over the place. And then dig out the old one. You’ll eventually be able to pull it right out half the time. I mean, they’re designed to be both the wall but half the time they’re not. So once you pull the soil away, you’ll be able to remove it. And what I would do is I would get that window well, the new one set in there, and I would try to put a little bit of stone around the outside of the window well. And then what I would do is at the bottom of the window well on the window side, I would go, you know, a good three or four inches under where the window is for the basement and I would put stone in there. And the reason you’re doing that is because when it rains, you won’t get dirt and mud that splashes up on your basement window. |
00:16:07 | CALLER: Okay. Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. I’ll look up that company and see what some of their options are. |
00:16:12 | TOM: All right. Good luck with the project, James. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
00:16:17 | LESLIE: Richard in Florida is on the line with a question about a driveway. What’s going on? |
00:16:22 | CALLER: Well, I had a golf cart parked in the driveway. And it must have been leaking something. And I’ve got a rust stain and it looks like some oil stains. And it’s a brand-new driveway. I was wondering if there’s anything I can use to remove those stains. |
00:16:38 | LESLIE: Well, it’s a brand-new driveway with a brand-new stain. |
00:16:41 | CALLER: That’s |
00:16:43 | TOM: That’s funny. That always happens. You start off with something brand-new and then it just gets ruined right off the bat. Yeah, and the first one hurts the worst, too. It’s like the first dent you get in a new car. Oh, it’s terrible. |
00:16:55 | LESLIE: You know what you could try is something called trisodium phosphate. It goes by TSP. You’ll find it mostly in like the painting aisle at home centers. And it’s a powder. And you can mix it into a paste, you know. And I would sort of put that onto the oil stain and the rust stain and let it sit there as a thicker paste. And then as it seems to start to be drying up a little bit, you can take a brush and, you know, kind of scrub it just gently to see. And that should pull everything out, the rust and the oil. I mean, that oil is probably going to have to be done a couple of times just because it is so porous and the oil does just want to get into every nook and cranny. But that should do the trick. |
00:17:34 | TOM: Okay. I’ll try it. All right. Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. Thank you. |
00:17:40 | LESLIE: Heading out to Maui, which I wish we were really heading out to Maui and not just talking to Maria on the phone. Oh, Leslie, you’re missing out. You’re missing out. I know it. I’m so done. You’re jealous. |
00:17:50 | CALLER: I have a shower at a house in California and it was leaking into the subflooring. Okay. And we couldn’t figure it out. But I remember my mom saying that she had a problem and it was pouring through there like five, six, seven years ago. Okay. So I had a friend of mine who’s a plumber come in and he checked the pan to see if there was any water leaking through there, if that was the problem. And he said it appears that it needs to be grouted with DAP. Around the periphery of the shower floor where the shower wall meets the floor. And I’m wondering what’s the best product to use for that and do you know that that’s even a solution? But that’s basically all I know right now. |
00:18:33 | TOM: Okay. Well, let me try to help you get to the bottom of it. So first of all, he’s talking about a caulk. DAP is a caulk manufacturer and that may or may not be the problem. But I will say that that by itself is probably not what’s causing this if you have any significant amount of water. But first, here’s how you eliminate whether it’s the tile pan, the shower pan or not. What you do is you run the shower and you block the drain. Like if you have one of those like rubber jar openers or something like that or even a washcloth would be okay for this. You lay it across the drain and then you fill that shower pan up with water. So that means you’re going to put about three or four inches of the water in there. Don’t let it overflow but fill it up. Turn the water off. Okay. And then let it sit. Now, while you’re doing this, you need to be able to check around it or under it right away. Because if the pan has failed, it will tell you quickly when you do this test. I used to do this all the time in the years I spent as a professional home inspector. And after the first time getting caught letting the water come through the ceiling for a bit too long, I learned that as soon as I do this to immediately run downstairs and look underneath to make sure nothing is coming out right away. But this will tell you because you’re basically flooding the whole pan. Now, if that’s okay. There is something to be said for the possibility that you could have gaps in the grout where the tile meets the pan. But it’s not exactly the floor because the pan goes up a few inches. And if you notice that you have places in that grout where it’s missing, the first thing you should do is re-grout those areas. And then the seam at the bottom between the tile and the top of the pan, that’s where you would caulk it. And I would recommend you use a silicone product for that. What gets tricky is sometimes you don’t realize why this is happening. Is that when you step into the shower, you could run the shower and it’s fine and we say the pan’s fine. But when you step into the shower and now the water hits your body and starts bouncing against the walls, many times that’s when the leak happens. Right? Because now the walls are really getting wet and before it was pretty much heading right for the pan. So that’s the process that you should follow. And I’m sure you will get to the bottom of it. And if it turns out that the shower pan is bad, that’s the bigger project because that has to be totally taken out at that point. It’s not a matter of just grouting. You’re caulking it. You have to take the shower pan out. So you pretty much have to reno that area of the house. |
00:20:48 | CALLER: That means we’d have to like retile and everything, huh? |
00:20:51 | TOM: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a job. Oh, right. That’s common. You know, when the pans get to be 20, 25 years old, they’re going to fail. If that ends up being the case, take a look at the systems that are made by Schluter, which is S-C-H-L-U-T-E-R. They make a modular system where you can basically replace or rebuild the shower in sections. And I tell you, you put this stuff down. You’re never going to have to worry about a leak again. |
00:21:16 | CALLER: Right. Because what I was getting from the impression that I was getting from the plumber was, you know, it’s not a fix it and forever thing. It’s just that periodically you are going to have to, every five, six, seven years, recall, conceal that area. |
00:21:30 | TOM: If it turns out that that is the cause, then I agree with him. You are going to have to redo it from time to time. But if the pan has failed, that you’re going to have to hop on because it’s going to get worse before it gets better. It will continue to let a little water get underneath it and rot away any subfloor. Is this on the second floor or over a crawl space? What’s underneath this? |
00:21:51 | CALLER: It’s over a crawl space. |
00:21:52 | TOM: Yeah. So you need to maybe set yourself up so that you can, with a strong flashlight, like look into that crawl space right at that shower area and see if you get any drippage when you’re doing the shower pan test. Because that’s going to answer it right there real quick. |
00:22:08 | CALLER: Beautiful. Fantastic. Okay. Well, you guys are the best. You know, I listen to you driving to work and back, so I really enjoy it now that I’m an inherited homeowner. |
00:22:21 | TOM: Well, we’re glad that we’re able to help you out. |
00:22:23 | CALLER: My tie is on me when you guys come to Maui. |
00:22:25 | TOM: All right. Deal. |
00:22:26 | LESLIE: Oh, we can’t wait. We’re in. Thank you so much. |
00:22:28 | TOM: Take care. |
00:22:29 | LESLIE: Well, natural stone countertops have been a popular choice for kitchens, but they’re also very high maintenance. So is that beauty and durability of a stone countertop worth the extra hassle? We’re going to highlight the pros and cons. |
00:22:42 | TOM: Well, first up, stone countertops are somewhat indestructible. I mean, most can take a hot pot. They’re not going to dent or chip. Homebuyers love them, usually because they’ve never had them before and don’t know how much work they are to take care of. But given the popularity, you can’t argue that they will add to your home’s value. And of course, the stone is beautiful. It comes in many colors and patterns, and the finish is almost always clear, so all the natural beauty shines through. |
00:23:09 | LESLIE: Now, on the minus side, stone tops are costly compared to a solid surface and, of course, to a laminate option. Prices are going to be based on the type of stone, with quartz and granite usually at the top of the tier. Marble can sometimes be less. But you have to remember that a marble surface is going to be softer, so it doesn’t wear as well as that quartz or that granite will. Plus, marble tends to darken over time. Now, in terms of maintenance, granite tops do demand the most. They’re sealed when they’re installed. But we frequently hear from listeners who are dealing with stains from tomato sauce or coffee or vinegar or grape juice, lemon juice, all of that kind of stuff. Similar products get soaked into that granite, and then once they’re in there, and this is because that sealant has kind of worn away over time, once that stain gets into the stone, it is near impossible to get rid of. |
00:23:57 | TOM: Now, if we had to choose a stone top, we’d probably go with engineered quartz. You’ll find tops from major brands like Caesarstone or Silestone available in a large variety of colors. And they’re called engineered because they’re actually made from a mix of natural quartz, dyes, and polyester resin, along with some other chemicals. And they have the advantage of being easy to maintain and not requiring sealers. And that’s really the key. If you can avoid the sealer, then they become a lot more pleasant to look at and a lot less work to take care of. Hey, guys. This week, our thoughts continue to be with the people of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas who are dealing with the devastating wildfires that have swept through the state. You know, the destruction and the loss caused by these fires is truly heartbreaking, and our hearts go out to everyone that’s been affected. |
00:24:48 | LESLIE: Absolutely, Tom. You know, these fires not only claim homes and property, but also deeply impact the lives of so many families. And to those who are facing this unimaginable challenge, please know that our thoughts and our prayers are with you. |
00:25:01 | TOM: We also want to remind everyone, whether you live in a fire-prone area or not, it’s smart to take steps to protect your home and family. You know, wildfire season is lasting longer and longer than ever before, and there are things you can do to make your property more resilient, like creating defensible space around your home, keeping gutters and roofs clear of debris, and ensuring fire-resistant materials are used whenever possible. |
00:25:24 | LESLIE: And remember, if you’re in an area affected by fires, prioritize safety above all. Follow those evacuation orders, have a plan in place, and stay informed through local authorities. |
00:25:35 | TOM: And to all those impacted by the fires, stay safe. You are in our thoughts, and we stand with you during this very difficult time. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
00:25:46 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
00:25:47 | TOM: And we make good homes better. Look around your house. Is there a project that you would like to improve, you’d like to take on? If it’s big, if it’s small, if it’s happening now, or maybe you’re planning for the spring or the summer ahead, reach out to us with your questions. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit. Or go to moneypit.com. |
00:26:09 | LESLIE: some home improvement projects are fun, but others you just want to get done as quickly and inexpensively as possible, which is where hacks can definitely help. So here’s five easy ones that can be done in 30 minutes or less. First of all, you want to label those water valves. This is hack number one. Imagine you have a pipe that’s broken. The ceiling is pouring water. It’s going everywhere. It’s coming out of every electric light fixture. Oh, my God, it’s all in the carpet. I mean, you get the picture. It’s kind of happening quick. So if all of your water valves are labeled and you know where they are, think about how quickly you can get to everything to turn it off and sort of stop some of that damage from happening. I mean, you may not be able to stop all of it, but you sure as heck can stop a lot of it. |
00:26:56 | TOM: Now let’s talk about another type of leak, not as dramatic as a frozen busted water pipe might be, but one that can cost you a lot of money. And that is a toilet leak because toilet flush and fill valves can break down over time, and they waste hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water, which will evidence itself when you get your water bill to be ridiculously high. A running toilet or one that sort of ghost flushes all by itself needs new valves. And another easy way to tell if the flush valve leaks is to add food color to the toilet tank, wait about 30 minutes, and then check the bowl. If that food coloring has leaked into the bowl, that’s another reason, that’s another indication that the flush valve is leaking and should be replaced. Now the good news is that both replacing the flush and the fill valves are really easy projects that should take about a half hour or less, and they cost only a few bucks. |
00:27:49 | LESLIE: All right, next up is caulking your bathtub. Now bathtubs are the closest thing in a home to a boat, and that proximity to water wears on that caulk, which has to be replaced because that water is constantly touching that caulk. It’s eventually replaced. It’s definitely going to break down over time. So to first do this, you want to remove the old caulk and then clean the lip of the tub with a 1 to 4 solution of bleach and water to kill any mold or mildew that might have been left behind. Then once everything is dry and you’re ready to re-caulk, you first want to fill the tub with water. That’s right, fill that tub with water. Take those shoes off and step right in because what happens here is the weight of the water and the weight of you being in it is exactly what happens when you’re taking a shower when you’re in the tub. So that’s going to stretch that distance between the tub and the tile wall, which in turn stretches the caulk. So you’re kind of setting it up to fill that space that’s the largest it’s ever going to be. And once you drain the tub and get out of it, it kind of shrinks back up. You do have to wait, though, until that caulk is dry before you drain it, and it’s going to be great. |
00:28:52 | TOM: You don’t have to stay in the tub the whole time either. |
00:28:55 | LESLIE: No, no, no. You can just be in there while you’re working or not. |
00:28:58 | TOM: Yeah, reach in there while you’re caulking and then get yourself out of there. The water’s very heavy, though. It’s eight pounds per gallon. So it kind of pulls that tub down, as you say. And then once you drain it, it comes back up and compresses the caulk. All right, hack number four, exercise. Good for you and also for your circuit breakers. Now, every six months, you want to turn each breaker off and back on again. And then every month, push the test buttons on any ground fault outlets you have. That’s the outlets with the test and reset buttons or the breakers with the test and reset buttons on them to make sure they stay flexible. All right. |
00:29:35 | LESLIE: Another one here is cleaning your dryer exhaust ducts. Dryer fires happen, and they happen more frequently than we’d love to think about. And it happens because that dryer duct is getting clogged with all of that lint. So you can keep the dryer safe by cleaning the entire exhaust duct from the dryer to the exterior vent using a dryer duct cleaning brush. You can find it at the home centers, the hardware stores. And it’s kind of a super fun project because you will not believe the amount of work that you’re doing. You will not believe the amount of lint that comes out of your house. It’s amazing. Yep. |
00:30:04 | TOM: And lastly, make sure your exhaust duct behind the dryer is not a plastic duct. There are still some of those out there. And those plastic flex ducts are unsafe. They should be replaced with a metal duct as soon as possible. |
00:30:16 | LESLIE: Peter wrote in to Team Money Pit and is saying, I’m planning to build a deck this spring and actually just had the lumber delivered. I noticed that every piece has a stamp on it in black ink, and I’m wondering, do I need to remove it first? |
00:30:29 | TOM: Well, first of all, way to go on getting an early start on the spring projects, Peter. Those are called mill stamps or sometimes grade stamps. And they include important information about the type and the quality of the lumber that you’ve purchased. Now, they can be ugly, but they can be removed. So let me give you a few ways to take those off. First of all, a mixture of dish soap and borax works well. You can mix a small amount of bleach in with that and some dish soap. Create a concentrated cleaning solution. Then apply it to the stamp area using a brush. You want to scrub it in a circular motion, which will gradually fade that stamp. And then you can thoroughly rinse the board with water and let it dry. Now, the other thing you could try is just sandpaper. If you use like an 80 grit sandpaper and then mysticulously sand that area where the wood stamp is, but sand in the direction of the grain, you’ll see that stamp vanish. You could also think about covering it with stain. If it turns out that the stamp is visible on the finished surfaces, like say the top of the deck boards or something like that, you can cover that with stain. Or you can just wait it out because they’re designed to fade. So the other option is just to wait for it to happen. It might take a year or two. But be mindful of which side of the boards are going to show. And if you have an option, make sure you put the stamp side down. Usually it’s the worst side of the board anyway. And then the problem is solved. |
00:31:47 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got one here from Sarah in New York who wants to know, What should I be using to caulk around the tub where the porcelain meets the tiles? Silicone or latex? I’ve heard that the two don’t mix and I already have one there. Should I try to stick with the same? |
00:32:01 | TOM: Well, I would definitely tell you to remove whatever is there if you’re going to re-caulk. You don’t want to go with one on top of the other. And the most durable is going to be silicone. Now, of course, the downside of that is you can’t use my favorite trowel, which is your finger. Because once you spread that caulking, you want to use your finger to smooth it out and press it in further. With latex, that’s easy. You can just wet your hand and that works very, very well. With silicone, it doesn’t because it gets kind of sticky and gooey. It’s a trade that I’ve learned over time. And that is that you can use dish soap on your hand or dish soap on your tools, the liquid dish soap kind. And that will actually slide over the silicone caulk, allowing you to have that same sort of trowel effect. So remember, you want to take all that old caulk out. And then I would use kitchen and bath silicone caulk. And the reason I say kitchen and bath, because it usually has an additive in it, which is a mildew side and it helps it stay the original color. |
00:32:55 | LESLIE: And you know what, Sarah, since you’re already in this kind of messy project, I know Tom says that his finger works great and he never makes a mess. But for some reason, I make the biggest messes when I work with caulk. So I don’t like to do it all that often. But if I’m doing the tub, then I go ahead and like do the back of the sink. And I do the floor where the tile on the floor meets the tile on the wall, like in the edge there, just because the caulk gets so yucky over time. So it gives it such a nice, clean look. And for some reason, the bathroom looks bigger. |
00:33:23 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show on air and online at MoneyPit.com. We hope that you’ve picked up a trick or two during today’s show that will help you in the care and maintenance and feeding in some respects of your home. But if you have a question and couldn’t get through, we encourage you to reach out 24-7 by calling us at 1-888-Money-Pit. Or better yet, just go to MoneyPit.com slash ask where you can click the blue microphone button and leave your question right there for the quickest possible answer. But until next time, I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
00:33:56 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
00:33:57 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
00:33:59 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
(Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2025 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.) |
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